This was no coincidence.
While pretending to study the map intently, Lin Sanjiu's mind had long wandered somewhere else. It felt as though another version of herself was walking beside her; she had once seen the world through Wu Yiliu's eyes, struggled to cling to fate with his hands, and shivered from the rain pounding on him. But to Wu Yiliu, she was nothing more than a stranger without warmth.
She was so dazed that once, when the wind blew Wu Yiliu's hair into disarray, she nearly reached out to brush it aside.
1
Though Lin Sanjiu restrained her impulse in time, Wu Yiliu seemed to sense something. While maintaining his polite composure, he gave her a probing glance.
"You look a bit like a friend I used to know," Lin Sanjiu explained with a natural smile, knowing she couldn't afford to arouse his suspicion.
"Maybe people with ordinary looks tend to resemble each other," Wu Yiliu replied with a courteous smile.
Saying he was ordinary wasn't entirely wrong, from a certain perspective. He clearly disliked drawing attention and wore this "ordinariness" like an outer garment. Unlike the young man who once sat dazed in the forest on a rainy night, the Wu Yiliu before her now was dry, light, and aloof. Even when he smiled occasionally, his eyes remained as distant as thin clouds over a distant mountain. His movements were so quiet—like wind stirring the shadow of a cloud—that one could quickly relax and almost forget he was there.
He wasn't the type to leave a deep first impression; this was why Lin Sanjiu hadn't paid much attention to him before regaining her memories.
But now, Lin Sanjiu quietly took in every detail about him: his hair was longer than before, falling in soft waves around his ears and neck. A few faint white scars trailed down one side of his neck, disappearing beneath his collar. He wore a simple loose tunic and black jeans; if not for the strange little trinkets adorning his hands, he could easily blend into a pre-doomsday crowd.
Lin Sanjiu had just noticed that among the odd items on his hand, there was a dull, plain silver ring.
1
"Have you found the way?" Wu Yiliu suddenly asked, snapping her back to reality.
When she parted with Bee Sting, neither of them had realized one thing: Lin Sanjiu was new here and didn't know how to return. She needed to get back to the building where she had landed her craft, so Silas could help her find her way back to Exodus. The parking receipt listed the name of the building, but she needed the map to know how to get there.
"I'm not in Cloudwalk Heights most of the time," Wu Yiliu had explained apologetically when she asked earlier. "So I'm not very familiar with the area."
Lin Sanjiu wasn't surprised. She had never mistaken him for a dismantler.
Since he wasn't a businessman who needed to travel frequently, it made sense for him to be unfamiliar with the roads. But she had to feign surprise and disappointment because she couldn't let him realize she knew his true identity. Even though she felt so distracted, she might have already slipped up.
After recognizing Wu Yiliu again, she thought it over carefully and concluded that only in Exodus could she confidently trap him.
1
After all, Exodus could take off at any time and rise into the sky, with Silas as both watchman and guard. Outside of Exodus—whether in buildings, on roads, or in pocket dimensions—she wasn't sure she could capture him without harming him or being counterattacked.
With others, tossing out Ah Quan's pocket dimension would be enough to solve the problem. But Lin Sanjiu knew that wouldn't work with Wu Yiliu.
Even if she had some quick wit, she wasn't arrogant enough to think she could handle Wu Yiliu. To her, he would always be that young university student who hadn't yet graduated, sharp-minded and cautious. Even if someone ripped their face off in front of him, he would remain unfazed under a storm of a thousand thoughts.
Unless she was on her home ground with an absolute advantage, Lin Sanjiu wouldn't act rashly.
Thinking carefully, she couldn't even determine how his current combat abilities compared to her own.
His faint first impression matched his seemingly unremarkable combat strength. Only when she studied him closely did she begin to doubt his harmless demeanor, as though a thick, milky fog obscured the depths.
This made her even more cautious. When facing someone meticulous and clever, hiding her true intentions wasn't easy. She quickly decided on the best approach to gain his trust and bring him back—simplicity, naturalness, and honesty. For things she couldn't reveal, she simply wouldn't say anything at all.
1
"Oh, we should go through the Natural Botanical Garden next," Lin Sanjiu replied with a smile, tapping on the map posted on the wall. "My craft is parked at the building's lot here... Look, the garden seems to be the closest route."
When Wu Yiliu first heard her mention needing a craft to reach her workplace, he hesitated thoughtfully for a few seconds before nodding. Lin Sanjiu found his expression amusing; she was sure his doubts were all fake. Even if she told him her workplace was beneath the smog layer, he'd probably nod just the same. Ȑ𝖆ＮỔ𝐛Ě𝒮
What she didn't expect was that a place called "Natural Botanical Garden" had nothing to do with nature or plants.
"This... is a botanical garden?" Lin Sanjiu asked in surprise as she and Wu Yiliu followed the crowd through the garden's tall green glass doors. Looking around, she swept her gaze over the rows of stalls under the canopy. "Where are the plants?"
A square-faced man squatting under the canopy nearby overheard her and chuckled, pointing beside him. "Aren't they growing in the pots?"
Lin Sanjiu stared at the pot by his feet, momentarily lost for words.
With a bit of imagination and very loose standards, sure. It could be called a plant. Long steel rods sprouted from the soil in the pot, resembling plant stems. The iron blocks dangling from the rod tips did look somewhat like leaves.
"What is this..." she began, unsure how to even phrase the question. Glancing at the pot, she noticed a label that read "Construction Site."
Without the label, she might have guessed; with the label, she was even more confused.
Around the square-faced man were several identical terracotta pots. In fact, under every canopy, there were varying numbers of these identical pots. The only difference was the plants inside each pot. Some pots had a straight black pole bristling with tiny spikes, from which small, indistinct fruits hung. Others contained lush clusters of antlers, each velvet-like leaf made of cloned, bead-like spheres. Each pot bore different labels, ranging from "Construction Site" to "Jealousy's Eye."
The botanical garden wasn't large, with only a few canopies, but it was crowded. The flow of people moved constantly, faces scanning the plants. Occasionally, someone would stop and quietly converse with the pot owners. On the far right, a pavilion with a sign read "Purchase Pots."
"Pots are disposable items used for mass replication. It's a specialty of the Rainforest Group and one of their primary sources of income," Wu Yiliu said. "Do you know about mass replication?"
Lin Sanjiu looked bewildered.
"It's simple. With these pots, as long as you plant a Special Item that meets the criteria, it will grow into a plant. Once the plant matures, it will produce more of the same Special Item."
Wu Yiliu's tone was matter-of-fact, but Lin Sanjiu's voice shot up several octaves in shock. "Huh? You can replicate more items? One planted yields several? That's incredible!"
Wu Yiliu smiled politely. "Their group only produces a few dozen pots a year, so their influence is mostly limited to two of the Twelve Worlds. It's normal that you haven't heard of it."
"So... each one that grows is a Special Item?" Lin Sanjiu asked, walking a few steps forward, her gaze reluctantly leaving one plant before focusing on the next. "They all seem so small... Do they have the same power as the original?"
"They're identical," Wu Yiliu replied patiently. "But the fruits can't be replanted in another pot. Oh, this one's nice."
Following his gaze, Lin Sanjiu saw a small tree with five or six branches, each about the length of a girl's forearm. At the end of each branch sat a pretty little house with a pointed roof and whitewashed walls. The pot's label read "Advanced Mobile Home."
Several people were drawn to the tiny houses, but to Lin Sanjiu, they were useless. She snorted lightly and kept walking. Wu Yiliu, however, seemed interested, giving it another glance before catching up and sighing. "What a shame. A mobile home must be expensive. In Cloudwalk Heights, even regular housing is hard to afford... Where do you live?"
Lin Sanjiu thought for a moment and said, "Big Fish Market. Have you heard of it?"
Wu Yiliu turned to her with a near-indulgent smile.
"When did you figure out I'm not a dismantler?"